Crime & Justice

Disgraced former Bell city manager Rizzo hospitalized with chest pains

From left Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez, former council members Luis Artiga, former Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia and former Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo appear during a preliminary hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court February 22, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
Irfan Khan-Pool/Getty Images

Corey Moore|February 23, 2011

Former Bell city manager Robert Rizzo was transported by ambulance from a courtroom in downtown Los Angeles during a hearing on allegations against him and several others. Details are sketchy about why the 50-year-old needed urgent medical attention.

Paramedics placed Robert Rizzo on a gurney in front of the criminal courts building and drove him away. There are no specific reasons right now why Rizzo need medical attention. His preliminary hearing was into a lunch break at the time.

Some people inside the courtroom said there was word that Rizzo was feeling weak or shaking and may have complained of chest pains. Rizzo’s attorney’s haven’t confirmed that. We’ll find out this afternoon how this might affect the hearing.

There's more testimony today in the preliminary hearing of Bell's disgraced former city manager Robert Rizzo.

Rizzo scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad and passed them to his attorney as administrative services director Lourdes Garcia retook the stand. Garcia testified to a laundry list of loans that Bell city employees took out, using city money. The loans ranged from several thousand dollars to cumulative amounts at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Garcia said Rizzo approved all loans to recipients that included City Council members, Bell city police officers and Rizzo’s assistant manager Angela Spaccia. Her loans totaled more than $200,000. She received the first advance just two months after she was hired.

Garcia said Rizzo authorized a couple loans to himself – each worth $80,000. She said he also urged her to take out loans saying the money’s there if she needed it. Garcia borrowed more than $175,000.